Policy-induced low-carbon innovations in a context of investment barriers: A room for standards? Evidence from the French building sector

Low-carbon technical change in the building sector is a promising solution to address the challenges of climate change, energy security, and public health. We aim to investigate the effects of various environmental policies on low-carbon innovation in the building sector where strong investment barriers transpire, focusing on France as a case study. Pollution taxes, subsidies, standards, which induce more low-carbon innovation? Using a quality index for patents and a Polynomial Distributed Lag Model we find that higher energy costs for households have no effect but that subsidies and standards when well defined are key determinants of low-carbon innovation